BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 4, 2018) — Fifty years ago in the evening, THE PLANET found ourselves on Lyman Street then Deming Park looking for our dog Chubbie, a 14-year-old beagle who had wandered off. We searched for awhile before returning home dejected, only to find her wagging tail waiting. Entering the house, we learned from TV of the assassination of Martin Luther King. It felt raw.

It had been less than five years since Jack Kennedy met his fate at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. In the interim, the accidental successor president had let the Vietnam conflict — “police action” would be the more accurate term — escalate beyond recognition, and the draft began eating up young men like so many after-dinner mints to sweeten the breath of the perpetual war machine.

This doomsday device that today does its harvesting in the Islamic Middle East had been activated by a greedy “military-industrial complex” (Eisenhower) using various versions of the Cold War to sweeten its breath and fill its wallet. That machine, of course, saw King as a major threat given his sway over so many black votes. He was a marked man. His murder still shocked us, for we had hung on to the illusion of good government about 30 years past its shelf life.

As with the shootings of JFK and RFK (two dismal months after MLK), King’s murder prompted a flawed investigation and a churchful of unanswered questions, with evidence suppressed, witnesses coerced, and “facts” manufactured. Officials hung the shooting Osward-, Sirhan-style on a similar patsy, one James Earl Ray. The bespectacled Ray had met his 15 minutes only to be confined to Brushy Mountain, his secrets devalued like post-WWI Deutschmarks.

Major U.S. cities with significant black populations rioted, an infernal racial schism that propelled the short-lived rise of the Black Panthers, a political terrorist group that watered down Malcolm X’s turn to Islam and beefed up his militancy. To gain a proper perspective on the domestic political climate, you must recall that Malcolm X had, too, been assassinated during the mid-point “lull” (1965) between Jack Kennedy (1963) and King (1968). He was literally Malcolm in the middle.

First X then King. Blacks found their voice in the shocked silence, and its diction broke off fiery words with clipped sharpness: Eldridge Cleaver made us all realize that Ward, June, Theodore, and Tony weren’t the only Cleavers with America as their pupils.

King and X represented heads and tails of the shoddy piece of counterfeit coin that had been minted since the disembarking of the first slave ship somewhere in the South. King preached non-violence; X urged the sword. Both used words — brilliant words written and spoken — to shake the earth (King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” ranks among the finest American essays of all time). Both were considered equally dangerous by Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, and the rest of this country’s hidden government. The cross-dressing, gay Hoover had assembled quite the dirt file on both men, with King’s thicker only because the “Christian” Hoover saw hypocrisy in the reverend’s personal life. Hoover’s stooges feigned outrage to learn that King was as fully human as the rest of us, this while their sainted chief oozed corruption out of every pore of his petrified face.

Before April 4, 1968, this country had perhaps a last chance to get its founding principles right by choosing to live by those ideals instead of hiding behind them. One 30.06 bullet fired into an impossibly courageous man on a motel balcony in Memphis took care of any such nonsense.

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“We can only be equal at the starting line” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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Obama was an abomination! Popular, lots of good will when elected, and a compliant congress, and the great uniter became the great divider, starting with the beer summit. Speaking of beer, kind of reminds me of Doyle – popular, lots of good will when elected, a compliant council, and he ends up selling us down the river of PCB’s for a measley ten mil and all the beer he could drink. Trump was elected to put Americans first, and Pittsfield needs a Trump for mayor who will put the Kapanski’s first. MPGA!

Getting rid of the Progressives should be the freedom cry for all Americans. Only then will we be rid of big government control and big government social engineering.

Government needs to fix our local roads that are falling apart as we speak. Government needs to do a lot of PRACTICAL things that have long been forgotten and ignored while we have been worrying about how many genders we all have and how everyone can become more dependent on big government.

The FIRST JOB of government is to PROTECT THE PEOPLE. Government is NOT doing that when we have open borders that are not keeping drugs and criminals out of the country. When we have governors like Jerry Brown who are protecting criminals. The people protecting the border side with President Trump. They KNOW that a wall is needed.

Pat, “getting rid” of progressives has a distinctly creepy, nazi feel to it, especially considering that more than half the country would identify as such. Perhaps consider toning down the rhetoric or being a bit more discerning in your use of language?

Oh Mr. G., You mean like the way the Progressives tone down their language when it comes to Trump. Didn’t I just see President Trump portrayed as a pig in a current issue of a Progressive magazine.? They are so just so discerning don’t you think?

The average American is sick and tired of the globalist, no borders, one world types (both Democrat & Republican).

You can see the vitriol by the “elite ruling class” or “deep state”. He is the only politician that has dared to go against this movement to subvert US sovereignty. Pray for President Trump, he is considered by many of these folks to be “dangerous”. Look what happened to other they considered dangerous….mentioned in Dan’s article above (each for different reasons).

So many things have become worse in this country. Now pot is all over the place. The former Country Charm Restaurant in Cheshire soon to become a pot facility. People can tank up on their pot and then get on that 50 mph highway and cause all kinds of mayhem from being stoned. Just yesterday we learned of a stoned driver who killed a local radio host. This will only get worse as pot becomes more prevalent in society. Things just keep going from bad to worse.

How about a nice restaurant at that location or something that would be good for society? One pot facility in this area would be more than enough if locals insist on needing their pot, but plans are in place for having many more.

Jonathan, toward the end of his life, Dr. King realized that BOTH black and white were oppressed;there were plenty of poor people of both colors in numbers growing daily. Thats when he became a real threat to the powers that be. He and RFK were organizing a march of the poor on Washington when he was murdered and since that time many people have worked very hard to expand the schism between black and white poor to keep them fighting each other for scraps rafher than fighting the real enemy; the system that divides us and propagates & expands the poverty. Motive?

Actually Mr. G you have just described the Progressive philosophy perfectly. Progressives want everyone to fight each other while the real enemy, big government, is ignored and becomes more powerful while people become weaker to fight against it since it becomes so out of control. It’s the old divide and conquer. Keep the people fighting about race and gender and before people realize it, they have lost all their rights and ability to influence their own government.

What happened to MLK was awful but there was no excuse for rioting then, or after the Rodney King verdict, or after Ferguson. Black Lies Matter! Tawana Brawley ring a bell? MLK advocated protests and other non-violent means for change. He wanted blacks to have equal opportunity not equal outcomes. A hand up not a hand out. My have times changed. Social media sparks spread like wildfire, cities burn, and businesses ruined and more lives are lost, often based on lies – “Hand’s up, don’t shoot” – never happened.

Does anyone know why OLLIE is able to advertise on the student radio programming on WTBR? Seems like the taxpayers are funding the program for adult programming and selling OLLIE brochures and does anyone care why this programming featuring political and job related atomosphere for those that appear on the show?

Paid advertising of any sort is prohibited under an Educational Broadcasting license. From the FCC website:

Recent cases before the Commission indicate that some noncommercial broadcasters have aired outright commercial messages on behalf of profit making entities in violation of our rules and the statute. As our action in those cases attest, we will enforce our prohibition on the broadcast of commercial messages on behalf of profit making enterprises for which consideration is paid to the station or individual. Information brought to the attention of the Commission regarding such practices will be scrutinized and licensees found to have engaged in them will be sanctioned.

A friend of mine was telling me his kid was wanting to get into programming at the radio station only to find out it has been anything but a learning tool for radio wanna be’s students. She says it is one big advertisement for the special interests and very very little to do with the students agenda. Yon and Company should be ashamed.

Lucky for us Donald Trump has us in a trade war that is going to be easy to win. It is all about the winning and making America great again and only Donald can do it. Can I get a Hallelujah for Donald please?

Like any of these countries want to give up the US market. Tariffs from Chinese goods can more than offset any tariffs that they place on our agricultural products. That excess could be used to assist / support any farm losses.

Dusty, there was a time they taught things like Tariffs and other working parts of government. Today’s lame version of edcuation no longer teaches kids how our government works, anything about the Constitution, geography and the list goes on. Myself, I learned everything I need to know about Tariffs in 7th or 8th grade. Today education is all about spending money, being pc, giving meaningless awards and trophies. Furthermore, our schools have turned into restaurants first and edcuation second.

True,this version of public education is from the late 80s of Reagan and Bush,reform public ed and 25 years later we are after hundreds of billions wasted this is a conservatives reform,take responsibility. No time for civics ,history,and goverment

To anyone who is in tizzy about the stock mkt think about the fact that Warren Buffet has said that this correction is over due. Besides, remember, buy low sell high. I will be buying just like last time.

School committee Tayor knows that McCandless, Curtis, Behnke,split 400k for 3 people and does not seem to understand a nice home on the eastern side of the state is 600k and in Pittsfield its 200k or 1/3 the the cost. McCandless 150k or 12.5k a month is under paid in a area of poverty he often sites as the reason budgets need to rise every year.The school committee says yes to everything and has for 15 years even when the public knows new spending means a recent new idea did not work.Consolidation works and is a very acceptable answer to cost.One high school.

So glad we are having so much discussion about fake news because the closer we get to the November election the more you will see of it. Due to Trumps failing policies and questionable character many candidates will need to turn every trick they can. Question everything you read and cross check it with another source or two. Fake news has become an art form and is run by professionals who can disguise it to make it look quite real. Beware that they do not make you look like a fool.

His policies are working for him and his family and his wealthy friends You need more than one news source as you are being unfair to yourself It is no fun being a puppet when the puppeteer chucks you in the waste bin

Pete whites worried about the polar ice caps and Paris accords and now the DA race? Worry about our own pollution problems right here, you know that Housy thing. And stop being a cry baby about petitions,Gaetani will spank you.

Interesting article on IBerkshires site regarding Pittsfield waste pickup. Apparently someone went around and found 247 violations in a short time. But it looks like they considered it a violation if there was not a recycle bin put out with the trash. I, like many other seniors do not put out recyclables EVERY week because there is not enough to make it worth having the truck stop. So if they count that as a violation they are inflating the problem with phony information

I read the article. Pete White mentions the collectors lifting the cans all day. I’ve never seen our collectors lifting ours or my neighbors’, ever. They just open the lid, take the bags out 1 or 2 at a time and throw them in the truck. Takes less than a minute and because the can isn’t lifted it stays put and doesn’t end up on the road or our driveway. So he’s full of it.
Armstrong mentions certain neighborhoods having more violations than others. No shit. Lower income neighborhoods are going to have more violations on pretty much everything. And where were the details on what the violations where? I bet most of them were for having a can more than the ridiculous 32 gal limit.
Just seems like a ploy to hire more people. Bigger gov’t, more spending, more public employees who goof off most of the day.

In my neighborhood I’ve seen them lift the trash cans to empty them then toss them onto the sidewalk. Sometimes they will lift a bag or two off the top of the trash can but they’re not reaching into one to make sure it’s emptied. Have been behind them driving to work and observed the same thing and got to play “obstacle course” by trying to dodge the trash cans blowing about in the road. Just because you don’t see it happening in your neighborhood doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

The health department wants to do cigs not be outside doing garbage inspections.Pete White must learn to do city budgets as retired people are sick of these councilors.Macandless and Behnke were told they are under paid by Taylor and Yon was nodding her head……ignorance of their own city.Taylor must have been a teacher who was angry at working 181 days.She does not seem to bright.

I hope the G-Man saw mor.. White talking about his petitions, if I were White I wouldn’t show up at the next Council Meeting.

This asshole ScumP is trying to regain consumer confidence by not placing tariff so the necessities such as, shoes,clothes and smart phones.What this jerk fails to realize is that he is putting American manufacturers in very gret peril. If this fools policies stand, coupled with China’s retailiatory Tariffs there goes U S Manufacturing,care to comment dean and Fritz, trump lovers. Try to sound intelligent in you’re responses.

OLLIE is run by a political hack, Megan Wildum ( good friend of
Jim Ruberto ) so therefore what ever Jimmy approves of Mr. Krol will provide…While WTBR is a student radio station…Mr. Krol thinks he owns it and as long as he votes on the PSD budget he will do whatever he wants.Perhaps the Attorney General Office should do a complete shake down of this waste of tax payers dollars..but she is too busy these days smoothing things over for the Berkshire Museum….no chance the tax payers will ever see real justice.

Geoco- So true….I’m attempting to put together a paper trail that proves Krol is selling advertising on a tax-payer funded student radio station that goes into his own pocket by packaging it with his Facebook Live show and laundering the money through his bogus media company. (Unbelievable by a city official) I will then file formal complaints with the FCC and AG’s office.

Two sense, good for you, I spoke to the G -Man and he is going afterJI V and the school committeeefor blatantly allowing this to occur. Wiz say Krol and his gobs and sig wanna be Guiel are small potatoes.Gaetani twill also petition the Council to ban him from voting on the school budget.

Gaetani said this is what is needed in this City…action – action action-and more action.

Good job and good luck Two Cents

What about the rest of you Sheep? When can we expect action from you all? We need to take our City Back!